WALTER GAZETTE



WALTER GAZETTE JANUARY 2002

November News

Kirk & Myra: Can someone tell me where this past month went! I find myself staying home all week and still I blink and Friday’s here! WE are all doing great. This beautiful Indian Summer is wonderful. I just sent the boys out to do their chores. They asked if they could play first—I suggested they do chores so they don’t forget, but as I look out I see them climbing hay bales. Oh for that carefree life again! Brent celebrates birthday #3 this Saturday. We might go out for pizza with cousin Tyler who shares this special day. The girls are doing a good job of juggling school, homework, home chores and organ lessons. Sometimes I wonder if they have time just to be kids. Kendra continues to be a bright spot in our lives. She’s getting rather cubby! We enjoy her big smiles and coos! Congrats to Arlene & Brian. We’ll keep our ears open for the next baby news!

January News

Glen and Shirley: Shall we start the New Year on time and get to Michelle by the 15th?! Thanks to Paula who reminded me today (the 9th). Glen and I are gradually getting back into the work field after the holidays. Matthew was home four weeks, three of which he got to work for Marion County, where he worked last summer. I hated to see him go back to college, again. His last week home, he, Glenda, Glen and I spent a few days at Lincoln City at Sea Gypsy, enjoying the waves. One day, the sea was really rough. It is such an interesting pastime. Peter, Wendy and James spent a night and day and a half with us at the same motel and Gary, Paula and family had a room down the hall a ways and spent an afternoon and a night. All 13 of us ate at Moe’s one evening. So now we are trying to see if or what there is to do around here. This morning we painted a bedroom and bathroom in Paula’s new upstairs. Tomorrow Kay plans to go with Glen and do more painting. I get to babysit James and Thomas while their Mommy’s clean at Marie Jensen’s. The carpet layer is scheduled at Paula’s the first of February—and the new baby is scheduled the end of February. Our best news this month is Wendy’s repentance and turning to the Lord an answer to our prayers. We are hoping she can feel complete peace and contentment.

We had a very nice Christmas time . Everyone was well. Our Walter Christmas that got changed to the “Saturday before Christmas” instead of at Lynn’s on Christmas Eve, went over real good, we thought. Had 100% attendance—if the count was right, there were 83 of us. Glen and I and Glenda and Matthew couldn’t resist the invitation for soup at Lynn and Marilyn’s on Christmas Eve—in addition. Chuck had Glen’s name and Glen really likes the pretty light—like a big moon in the background with bears and trees in front, also a little electricity test, which he’s been beeping around the house. I got one of the prettiest flower garden mug holder and coffee mug plus some Starbucks coffee and a carafe to keep it hot. I’m all set for someone to come share a coffee hour with me and chat a while. I won’t promise there’ll be any Starbucks’ left, tho! Sounds like Mom likes her new wallpaper. We thank all you who participated in the labor end.

Glen got out the old electric train our boys had which didn’t work right anymore and gave it to Rich Gerig (Nick’s dad) to look over. He’s an electric train hobbyist—has a collection. He got it to working, but I guess Glen and Matthew ‘blew up” the transformer when they tried it out on our old tracks. So Richard came over this week and checked it all over again and is going to try to find the needed parts for train and tracks amongst his collection of parts. I can hardly wait to see Grandpa playing with the train he’s fixing up for his grandsons!!!

Thank you all for your Christmas Remembrances. Hope you all have a good New Year.

Gary & Paula: Happy Spring! (Is that wishful thinking?) Anyway, it’s nice to see the daffodils and crocuses pushing their way through the ground again. Last year we didn’t have any planted and I definitely missed them. Watched 5 beautiful deer out my kitchen window this morning, but was a good reminder to go sprinkle ground hot Thai peppers on my pansies that keep getting sheared off. Hope it works! We’re in the painting mode around here. I’ve had wonderful volunteer labor and haven’t had to touch a paintbrush, yet. Now that’s the way to get painting done! It’s finally looking like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

We enjoyed a family vacation at the beach over New Years. Seems like it’s been a while since we’ve all been there, especially overnight. Ethan was saving bottle return money to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Think the kids all enjoyed it, which is good since it used about every cent!

We enjoyed seeing Elijah’s picture on Mom’s fridge. Hope you’re all adjusting okay to parenthood and enjoying your little boy.

Pete, LaRae & the J's - Howdy! Does everyone have most all their Christmas goodies consumed and now wondering why their new garments are a little snug - like us? Jim W. had Pete's name for Christmas and he received a very neat John Deere tractor rain gauge that also has a grass growth gauge which is very cute and funny! Along with the gauge, he received two very nice "farm" books - with lots of good stories and pictures. Barb had my name and I received a Pampered Chef decorator and also Dairy Queen coupons - so I can enjoy a couple of my favorite things - fixing food at home and going out to eat! Jenna, Jared, and Jordan all received nice warm shirts from Grandma Walter. Thanks to all for those goodies, gadgets, and garments!

Pete and I enjoyed a very fun and relaxing trip to Florida the second week of December. The weather was perfect - warm and sunny. We drove down in Jenna's old Regal. It served us well, and with just the two of us, we had plenty of room for all of our "stuff". We spent 3 days at Marco with group of friends, one day with my Uncle & Aunt in Miami, then stayed one night at Bed & Breakfast operated by Ellison's (son of our landlady) in AL on way home. Guess the kids got along ok without us - the house was still standing when we got home.

Jenna finished piecing and knotting (with good help) her blue jean and flannel squares comforter over vacation. Jared and Jordan were poxing chickens for several days. Pete is busy trucking his grain to the elevator these days. I am spending a lot of hours in the office working on farm record books. Kids are back to the school books.

Old age finally caught up with our rooster, Fred, as he died suddenly last week -(Boo-hoo).

Hope all is well with everyone else...

Lynn, Marilyn and Family

We thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to be together during the Christmas season but here we are into a new year. We enjoyed our Walter evening at the lodge at Silver Creek Falls...it's so nice to see everyone and spend a little time together. Grandma gave Christopher a shirt and pair of socks, Kari a travel bag, Kimberly a sweater and Kathryn a sporty zip-up sweatshirt. Jackie had Lynn's name and gave him a beautiful black and white plaid Pendleton shirt (it goes good with white hair!) and Walt had Marilyn's name and gave her a longenberger basket. .

Marilyn started the new year out by getting right at some projects she wanted done like painting the back hallway and sewing valances for our kitchen window and patio door. Next she wants to get in our shower and re-grout the tile, clean it and seal it. Christopher's ready to put tile on the floor of the main bathroom as soon as we pick it out. Then the girls want to take off the wallpaper and do some type of fancy painting. It's also time for Christopher to start pruning the orchard, grapes and blueberries.

We were glad to hear that Ivan and Kathryn are coming January 29 through Feb. 12 with Earl and Esther Gerber for their grandson's baptism and Gus and Dorothy just for the weekend of January 27 for Lori Dietrich and Adam Kuenzi's wedding. The month will fly.

We sure want to welcome the three newest members of the Walter family...Sydney, Elijah and Hayden. Brian and Kristen, you must bring Elijah to Oregon to see his aunts, uncles and cousins; we don't want to wait until the 2006 Walter Reunion!

Harvey & Margaret: Greetings from Normal - It is a cold windy night here. Harvey went to Fairbury to a visitation but I stayed home because of my cold and cough. Hoping one of these days it will go away. Then Harvey will probably get it. Can't go see Eli!

Harvey and I have been enjoying our Christmas presents - gift certificates to EAT OUT. We went to Damon's on Sue and had Heather serve us. Told her to tell her mom it just wasn't enough to cover her tip! Saturday night Keith and Jackie came down and we went to Red Lobster for all you can eat

Shrimp! I finally made Harvey quit! We put a good dent in the place and it was sure good! So thanks Marlene. I am still trying to find out who Santa is - He/she gave me a grandma dolly dressed in purple!

My oven has been out since New Year's Eve - they are supposed to come tomorrow to fix it - they ordered the wrong part the first time! Just one more reason to eat out!

I have this week off so am trying to get a few dentist appointments taken care of - I'm sure they are going to enjoy seeing me. Hopefully I won't have to have any work done.

Harvey is extra busy now for a while. Year end work to finish up. He is thinking it will be his last year end to deal with!

Joe is supposed to be here the end of January for about a week. Has two classes to attend several days two different weeks - so we will have him here over a week end. Guess we'll have to celebrate Andrew's birthday early.

Sounds like our baby is really growing - sure hope we get to go see him soon again.

Hope everyone had a good holiday. Stay well.

ARLENE & BRIAN: Our lives have been busy the past couple of months, with the arrival of Sydney on November 6th and then the holidays. We're thankful and happy to have a healthy baby girl smiling and making noises at us. I have a feeling she'll be moving before I know it, she's already rolling to her side! We had a wonderful Christmas and spent a few days over New Year's at a cabin near Mt. Hood with friends. The highlight was a day of sledding.

In between kids' playdates, errands, parent-helping at Tyler's school, laundry, and dishes I'm trying to get photos in albums and baby books updated. Brian was in China, Japan and Brazil in November, Las Vegas last week and leaves for Phoenix tomorrow for a couple of days. All the business travel must be effective, after hearing President Bush gave InFocus a high score during his speech to Oregon business leaders recently.

Tyler runs with the culdesac gang every chance he gets. He is starting to tell time, learn math and is doing more writing. Garrett is usually playing with Rescue Heros or other imaginary people or animals until Tyler gets home from school and then the real fun begins!

Kirk & Myra: Happy 2002 everyone!! We all had a good Christmas, now it's back into the normal routine. Courtney decided to participate in the 3rd and 4th grade spelling bee (practice, practice, practice) and still has her daily homework of reading 15 minutes every evening. Brianne missed one day of school because of stomach flu, now she's busy planning her birthday party on the 18th. Kenton has graduated to the unloading dishwasher job. We're drilling him on shapes, numbers, etc., preparing for his pre-school screening next week. Brent has conquered the potty training thing. A piece of cake once it "clicked". Kendra continues to be our dolly. She's so good now, we wonder if we will pay for it in a year or so. As far as the big people in this house--not much new. Mom tries to stay on top of all the household chores, always looking for a chance to sew or something. Dad faces the daily challenge of keeping all of his customers happy and saving enough energy to enjoy his family. We're appreciating the mild winter so far.

Darren & Nora: Happy new year to you all! We had a good Christmas here. Ashton enjoyed some time off of school, and a chance to set up and play with his new electric train set. Travis needs to wait for warmer weather to get much use out of his new bike. And Lincoln thinks his 99 cent ball is the best thing around. The 3rd boy just doesn't need much. What did you do, Harvey & Margaret?

We were glad to be able to meet Kendra, see Grandma, and see a few of the other Walters in Illinois the first weekend of the year. We can't help but travel a little with the accommodating weather that we've had all winter. We did a weekend in Lester right before Christmas, too. For such a short distance between us, we don't get to see John & Karmin as often as we would like. I'm anxious to hear how Florida was for Popkes and Walters. Is that where Jami went, too? We're trying to piece together a weekend in Prescott, Arizona, in February, since it's our turn to minister there. That's all a little new to us, but it will be fun to meet Mom & Dad there.

Darren puts in 10 hour days at CountryMaid as much as he's able, to get ahead before spring planting starts. We sold the sheep to unsuspecting Mogler (Leman) boys. Sheep were fun and cute, but they just didn't respect our fences. Not much left around here for chores any more except a barn full of pigs that pretty much take care of themselves.

I'm watching the neighbor boy every day this month and some days that is all I do. Decided to put off spring cleaning until a little later, at least until I'm down to babysitting just a couple of days a week.

Lincoln gets to see our ENT doctor this week since his ears haven't cleared up over time and with different antibiotics. Wonder what he'll recommend?!

Barb and Jim: We are off to another year! and now have to study awhile to remember where we left off!

I am hoping for some time this afternoon to finish putting figures together to be ready for a tax appointment on Thursday. Our accountant is on the ball! (that’s okay, Walter Farms, we'll tell him he has to wait on Illinois papers!)

The farm boys are out replacing berry posts, that have either rotted or been knocked over. Mexican "Abe" is training raspberries, so looks like we are off to another year of anticipating a "good crop". Jim has been working at putting in a water heater in the shop and making a cabinet for the existing sink.

Jim and I plan to go to Corvallis tonight and see where Clinton is hanging out. We've not been down there since he started there last September, always seemed that we or he had a week that didn't have any free evenings. We want to take him out for supper.

Melissa has classes everyday and works three part days. Aaron is my alarm clock, and I usually don't get out of bed until he is finished with the bathroom and kitchen. He is off to work everyday.

Nancy and John had Jim and my names for Christmas and we got a Koehl sculpture, fish design, and it has found a home in the waterfalls stream in our yard. Quite special! Along with that we got a meat thermometer which we've been using a lot. As I ponder thoughts, it is really something to think upon how it isn't even a month since Christmas, and all that shopping, cramming, etc. is so far removed from our minds! Wonderful that the true meaning is "everlasting!"

Hope all are having a good winter and not hosting too many flu bugs!

Happy New Year from the Edelmans

Looks like vacation is over, and its back to the every day routine. We took on an extra project over Christmas vacation, trying to utilize all this good help that was hanging around! Walt Jr. is using his construction talents to redo the big room in the basement. Have the dry wall all done and now is putting up the wainscoating. Lori is our main one to do whatever needs to be done. She and Lisa and Karie are in the midst of ragging the top half of the walls. Takes a long time with such a big room. She appreciated the comment tonight when someone told her he liked the wallpaper! Mark put in a lot of outlets, and also the ceiling lights and whatever else electrical we needed. Dean is so busy with his many jobs, we haven’t gotten much help from him. He keeps us supplied with all the “Whites” delivery of dry wall, etc. We got tired of going to Menards! Russell and Uncle John got in on all the dry wall work. We really appreciate all the good help. And of course Aunt Nancy kept us supplied with goodies.

Our first auction of the new year is this Saturday. So far it looks like a busy few months ahead of us. I appreciated the building being available to do all the staining and varnishing for the basement.

We were glad to be able to spend a Sunday with Darren & Nora & kids in Fairbury. Now we are looking forward to Chuck & Karen. We enjoyed seeing all the Walters that came to the Christmas Day gathering in Saunemin. Good to have a few new babies there. Marlene had my name and gave me a cookie jar (cat) that matches my Phaltzgraf dishes and a book which I stayed up one night and read it all. Thanks again Marlene. Juanita had Walts name. He got a Benchwarmers gift certificate and also a hot packet.

I’ve been trying to master a few more computer skills. If anyone is interested you can use our web site to read our sale bills. One night I messed around 3 hours and ended up with nothing!

Jim and Juanita: Hello everybody-Well another new year is here. Hope you are all doing alright. Jim has had a few health problems this past month. Hopefully everything is under control now. He doesn't see his heart Dr. for three months and his blood looks like it is thin enough,so he won't have another test for about two weeks. We plan on going to Florida for the first two weeks in February. It had been cold enough these past couple of weeks that I'm ready to get out of here. We had a wonderful Christmas. Enjoyed the Walter get together. The Dollar General might make the dead line

of Feb 1st . Diane helped Jim paint 1-1/2 days last week. Until next month.

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